Free Republic

A story in Thursday's Chronicle about the California Republican Party's use of a coveted H-1B visa to hire a political consultant from Canada apparently hit a nerve. Only hours after the paper hit the doorstep -- or, for the more tech-oriented crowd, the Web -- a GOP leader fired off a missive slamming the Chronicle and a Republican commentator critical of the hiring. "The press is trying to portray Republicans as racist (see the "brown menace" quote in the story) when we discuss illegal immigration," Michael Kamburowski, the party's recently hired chief operating officer, said in a letter to the...

What George Will missed: The decrepit state of the California GOP By Michelle Malkin  ?  May 4, 2009 02:21 PM George Will?s latest column on the sagging economy of California and the upcoming slate of massive tax-hike initiatives on the ballot only scratches the surface of what?s rotten in the formerly Golden State. The state GOP is a basket case. The party establishment epitomizes everything that is wrong with the Republican Party nationally: Cronyism, arrogance, waste, and leadership out of touch with its base. I reported on how grass-roots conservatives greeted California GOP chairman Ron Nehring with boos and heckles of ?Go...

A former California Republican Party official's false-arrest lawsuit against U.S. immigration authorities has been thrown out of court. A federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., ruled last month that immigration officers did nothing wrong when they jailed Michael Kamburowski, 35, on a deportation warrant in 2004, three years before he was hired as chief operating officer for the California GOP. Kamburowski, an Australian citizen, had sued in 2005, seeking $5 million damages from the government. The lawsuit was pending when state party chief Ron Nehring hired him in March 2007 to oversee the state party's finances, but party officials said they...

A former California Republican Party official who resigned last year in a controversy over his immigration status had no valid visa or work permit during his high-profile career as a Washington lobbyist for conservative icon Grover Norquist..... Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen who served briefly as chief operating officer of the state GOP, worked from 1995 to 2000 as a vice president of Americans for Tax Reform in Washington, D.C., an organization headed by Norquist - an architect of modern conservatism who has advised President Bush and top GOP political leaders. For Norquist, Kamburowski lobbied Congress on dozens of issues,...

THE GOP has a guy problem. Even after Veep Dick Cheney shot a friend in a hunting accident, he still hunts. In California, GOP biggies injure their comrades in a less ballistic manner. State party chairman Ron Nehring is under fire for handpicking an Australian immigrant -- who was ordered deported in 2001, was jailed on visa violations in 2004 and has filed a $5 million wrongful arrest lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security -- to be the party's chief operations officer. Under Nehring, the party also sought an H-1B visa so that a Canadian citizen could serve...

California Republican Party officials might have violated federal immigration law by hiring an Australian immigrant for a top finance post without ever demanding to see his proof of legal residence, immigration officials said Tuesday. Ron Nehring, who heads the California Republican Party, admitted Tuesday that he -- and as far as he knows, any party officials -- never saw the green card that would prove that Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen hired as the state GOP's chief operations officer, was a legal resident. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division said Tuesday the...

The last few days there has been quite a bit of discussion about the sudden circumstances surrounding the abrupt departure of the California Republican Party's Chief Operating Officer. To those who are still interesting in rehashing this matter... Get over it. It's time to move on. The guy omitted key information when he applied for the job. When it was revealed, he quit.

California Republican Party officials might have violated federal immigration law by hiring an Australian immigrant for a top finance post without ever demanding to see his proof of legal residence, immigration officials said Tuesday. Ron Nehring, who heads the California Republican Party, admitted Tuesday that he -- and as far as he knows, any party officials -- never saw the green card that would prove that Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen hired as the state GOP's chief operations officer, was a legal resident. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division said Tuesday the...

State Republican Chairman Ron Nehring has the distinction of being the first California Party State leader to go outside the United States to hire people to run the State Republican Party. Moreover, there appears to be a prima facie case that he has hired people to run the California Republican Party that may be illegal aliens or people who have fraudulently secured work papers, or both. There are two men, an Australian and a Canadian. We will discuss the Canadian in another installment. First, there is Australian citizen Michael Kamburowski – who runs the day-to-day Party for Nehring. He says...

Michael Kamburowski, the Australian immigrant hired as a top official in the California Republican Party, was ordered deported in 2001, jailed three years later for visa violations -- and has filed a $5 million wrongful arrest lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to U.S. District Court documents. Kamburowski was named in March to be the chief operating officer of the California GOP. He is responsible for the state party's multimillion-dollar budget and oversees campaign funds and financing for the nation's largest state GOP organization. As the state GOP's new operating officer, the 35-year-old Kamburowski was handpicked for...